Navigating Leave and Holidays: How Do You Handle Overlapping Days Off?

Dear Friends,

I have some queries; please help.

1. What if an employee takes leave between two holidays?
2. If an employee takes leave for three days, and a holiday occurs during the leave period, will it be marked as leave or counted as a paid day?
3. What if an employee takes leave for Friday and Saturday, then returns on Monday? Should we consider Sunday as a holiday or a paid day?

Waiting for your kind reply.

Thanks.

Hi Tripti,

In this case, I would like to mention that the leave taken between the holidays will be considered as leave only. If the employee comes back on Monday, then it will be only two days. Members, please correct me if I am wrong, and Tripti, I would like to know if it is clear for you.

Regards,
Amith R.

Hi,

Actually, it depends on company to company. According to me, it is not considered a holiday.

Pranath

Hi,

Here, two things come into picture:

1. Is it a public holiday or a regular weekly off?
2. If it is a public holiday, that day cannot be considered as leave. Otherwise, it can be considered as leave.

I hope this is clear.

Regards,
Anil

Dear All,

Though leave policy differs from company to company, some general principles are being followed in industries.

1) Generally, when an employee avails leave between two holidays, only the leave period will be calculated. However, to avoid employees making this a habit and discourage such practice, either a prefix or suffix will be added to the leave. This is applicable only when the leave is availed for less than a week because when an employee avails leave for more than a week, automatically one Sunday will be included in his leave account.

2 & 3) When an employee avails leave for any duration equal to or more than two days, any holiday which falls between the commencement and end of leave will also be considered as leave and not a paid holiday.

Regards,
Rajan

Typically, your HR Manual should define this. Some suggestions:
- A leave taken in between 2 holidays can be treated as a single day leave.
- A leave taken on Friday/Saturday & Monday (assuming Sunday is the official holiday) can be treated as a 4-day leave.
- Casual Leave and Privilege leave cannot be combined as the purpose of taking both leaves is very different. Only in case one is over can you allow them to be combined.
- Sick Leave can be combined with any kind of leave. The reason being, one can never predict when he/she falls sick, and it could happen during any kind of leave.

Of course, these are pointers and suggestions. Every organization, based on its experience, needs to decide on the final leave rules. It helps if the HR Manual captures these leave rules clearly - it leaves no scope for misuse.

Hi,

According to my understanding, leave taken between holidays will be considered as leave only. If an employee returns on Monday, it will count as only two days off. However, the final calculation also relies on the company policy. Our company policy states the following:

- Casual leave can be either prefixed or suffixed with a holiday, but not both.
- Earned leave can be either prefixed or suffixed with a holiday, but not both.

Regards,
Karuuna

Dear Tripti,

It is based on the working days calculation. Whether it might be 25 days for payroll processing, the leave will not be calculated. If it might be a 30-day salary processing, it will be calculated.

Please correct me if I am wrong because I am a student.

Thank you.

Dear Tripti,

As per the Act, Privilege Leave/Earned Leave is exclusive of holidays/off days falling in between or at either end of the sanctioned leave. However, in the case of casual leave or sick leave, it depends on the company. In our company, we do not count holidays/off days as leave even in the case of casual leave; we consider it a paid day.

I hope I am right. If not, please explain.

Regards,
Madan
Noida

As per the rule, it states that if anybody takes leave and a holiday falls in between, the holiday will be paid only if the person returns to work one day before or after the holiday.

Hi Tripti,

In case of casual leave, the holidays (both paid or weekly off) will not be added to the number of days of leave. For example, if an employee takes casual leave with effect from Monday (i.e., he is absent on Monday) for two days and Tuesday happens to be a closed holiday, then he is entitled to join on Thursday.

However, in the case of earned leave or paid leave, the employee can prefix or suffix the holidays. Any holiday falling in between the earned leave period will not be excluded. For example, an employee takes earned leave (i.e., leave with pay) for 10 days with effect from Monday, 17th September. He can prefix Sunday on 16th September (if it is a weekly off), but he will be required to join on 27th September, i.e., the Sunday falling on 23rd September will be part of the 10 days.

Regards,

P. K. Misra

Hi friend,

If an employee has taken leave for two days with a holiday in between, it will be considered as a three-day leave. This is because the employee has taken leave on one working day before and is rejoining the organization on one working day after. The organization considers that the employee is away from their services for three days, so it is counted as a three-day leave.

Santhosh.p

Holiday between two working days is not considered as leave.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Regards,
Mangala

Hi Tripti,

Having a holiday or off-day in between leaves always results in another leave (paid/unpaid). If this is not implemented, employees may take the opportunity to avail of a holiday or off-day within a prolonged leave period. For example, a person can take 26 days of paid leave and 4 days off in a month of 30 working days. A similar situation may apply to holidays as well.

Am I correct?

Regards,
srp

Some of the companies do their calculations as follows:

In the case of using Earned Leave, it will not be considered as leave. In remaining cases like CL/SL, it will be taken as a leave.

Phani

Hi,

I agree with Pranath. It actually depends on how you have drafted your leave policy.

Sherine

The holiday intervening two Casual Leaves shall not be counted as leave. However, a holiday between two Earned leaves, sick leaves, or leave without pay shall be marked as leave. Holidays intervening leave under the Factories Act, referred to as Annual leave with pay, shall not be counted as leave, even though such leaves are encashable/earned leave.

Madhu.T.K

Dear Mr. Dixit ji,

It's depending upon your Company's 'Leave Policy'. In general, if it is CL, holidays in between will be countable. If it is EL, they will be exempted.

Please see the attachment of the Model Leave Policy which I posted on this site earlier (Article column).

Regards,
PBS KUMAR

Hi Tripti,

It depends on company policy. You may include or exclude as the company wishes when framing policies. Normally, if an employee does not come to work on Monday after taking two days of leave (i.e., Friday and Saturday), you can consider Sunday as a leave day as well.

Dhananjay

Hi,

Actually, it depends on company to company. According to my company norms, it is considered a holiday.

Kalpana Rawat

Hi Mangala,

A holiday taken between two working days is considered as leave. When designing the leave policy, it was structured in such a way that no employee should have a prolonged gap in their service delivery.

Regards,
Santhosh.P

Hi Treepti,

If the holiday exists in the continuation of leave, then that holiday should be counted as leave as well, not as a holiday. For example, if Mr. A avails leave for Friday, Saturday, and Monday, then Sunday (a holiday) should also be counted as leave.

RAJ LUCKNOW

It depends totally on the company, or in fact, on your senior. Normally, if an employee wants to take time off between two holidays, it can go either way - as a paid leave or a loss of pay.

Hi Tripti,

If an employee takes leave in between two holidays, it depends on company policy whether it should be a paid leave or an unpaid one. In my opinion, leave should only be unpaid because the employee is back on the working day, so it should not be paid.

If a holiday comes in between leaves, then it becomes unpaid. It is not paid.

If an employee takes leave on Friday, Saturday, and is present on Monday, only Friday and Saturday should be unpaid for. Sunday should be paid.

Hope it clears your doubts to some extent.

Thanks,
Shweta

Dear Friend,

If an employee wants to take leave between two leaves, it's his/her call. You have to decide if you can sanction the leave.

If a holiday falls in between three leaves, he/she can withdraw the leave application for that day.

If an employee takes leave on Friday and Saturday, Sunday should be considered a holiday. It has nothing to do with the leaves; it is the weekly off.

Some may find me against the company, but at the end of the day, it is the employees who will contribute to the company's growth.

Thank you.

Dear All,

If any employee takes leave on the last working day of the week and is present on the very first day of the next week, for example, Monday, Sunday would be considered the weekly holiday. If an employee is also absent on Monday, this condition would be considered a "Sandwich Holiday," and Sunday will be treated as a loss of pay.

Regards,
Deepak Dwivedi

Dear Friends,

I also have to raise a doubt regarding Tripti's concern. When we define our own company leave policy, wouldn't the government regulations affect that? For example, can we define a statutory holiday as leave and deduct the person's leave balance when it falls between two applied leaves?

Regards

Hi Tripti,

Leave in any organization is to be governed by its HR manual. However, as per government rules:

1. If leave taken is Casual Leave, in-between holidays are not counted.
2. If leave taken is Earned Leave or Medical Leave, then in-between holidays are counted.

Nisha

Hi Tripti,

Leave between the holidays will always be considered as leave, and holidays will not be counted in it, but the employee must be present on the just next day of the holiday. It also varies based on the company's policy.

Dear,

Your query depends on the leave policy of the company. In our company, only working days are counted for leave purposes. It does not matter if holidays or weekends fall between the leave.

Surendra

Dear Nisha,

Just explain what would be the impact on casual and privilege leave if a weekly day off comes in between two leaves.

Regards,
Namal

Hello,

A holiday or weekly off that is sandwiched between the two workdays will be treated as leave only. If an employee takes leave on Friday and Saturday but remains present on Monday, then Sunday will be a paid day only. This practice is not limited to private companies; many Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) also follow this method.

Note: Holidays and weekly offs are treated equally in leave calculation.

Regards,

Anal Shah